This is part one of the Revive & Innovate: Vision for the Future blog series, written by Soundings Founder & CEO Tracy Judge, MS, CMP. Follow Soundings on LinkedIn to stay up to date on all of our posts!

During my three weeks of travel attending industry events in Europe and North America, sustainability and DEI stood out as top priorities for many organizations. I learned how other businesses in the industry are integrating these initiatives and what it means for the future of events.

Conversations with Industry Leaders

During a conversation with Freeman Company, I learned how the company is aligning its environmental and DEI programs and initiatives with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. And it’s not just talk. They are currently hiring a VP of Sustainability if you know anyone that is interested!

From an environmental sustainability standpoint, EMEA organizations seem to put a larger emphasis on sustainability throughout all sectors of the industry and have made more progress than North America.

For example, PCMA EMEA organized Convening EMEA 2022 under the Austrian Ecolabel for Green Meetings standards. Below are examples of the sustainability efforts they made for the event:

Mobility and climate protection

Encouraged attendees to refrain from traveling by car or airplane. Vienna can be reached in comfort and in an environmentally friendly way by train. Numerous international and national train services guarantee a quick and easy way to get there from all over Europe.
Partnered with CAT – City Airport train to offer free tickets to travel from and to the airport.
Chose venues that can easily be reached by public transport including: Messe Wien Exhibition, Congress Center, and MAK Accommodation.
Partners and suppliers were certified in accordance with the EU’s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) or ISO14001.

Procurement, material and waste management

Encouraged delegates to prevent waste wherever possible during the event and separate waste by using the provided collection bins.
Used fully recyclable delegate badges and collected them at the end of the event.

It will be exciting to see what PCMA has in store for Convening EMEA 2023 in Copenhagen, Denmark – one of the world’s leading sustainable meeting destinations!

U.S. Event Industry Sustainability Efforts

The good news is that US-based industry-leading organizations are now putting sustainability on the top of their priority lists. Below are a few examples.

At PCMA Convening EMEA in Vienna, Dena Lowry, President of Opus Agency, spoke about the company's focus on sustainability. She shared that some of her largest customers have made it mandatory for sustainability to be tracked, measured, and reported on.

MGM Resorts International in Vegas has been a great sustainability partner to their customers, providing a post-show sustainability report after each event.

At PCMA Convening EMEA 2022, I presented with a panel of industry innovators during the “Innovation-led products and services that solve problems” session. It was interesting to see how multiple companies solved problems related to DEI and sustainability.

Here’s how each panelist and their companies are doing so:

Eventsforce educates organizations on how to plan sustainable events and takes part in conferences that explore event sustainability with other industry leaders. – Andrius Remeikis, Head of Sales EMEA
#pocketStages | PAPERTOWN creates stylish sets for hybrid and in-person events using recyclable corrugated board, that allows space-filling, cost-efficient design and resource-saving transport. – Philipp Blume, Founder & CEO
Interactio - Multilingual Meetings Solution services enable panelists or participants who speak different languages to interact with each other seamlessly from anywhere. This service supports environmentally-friendly solutions by reducing the need for on-site experts; which reduces the overall event carbon footprint. – Barry McMahon, VP Global Marketing
German Convention Bureau has several sustainability certifications, practices sustainable management, are is committed to the use of sustainable resources. They use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a guide to help achieve the global goal of Agenda 2030. The company is also committed to raising awareness for the sustainable development of business events with targeted activities for members, partners and event planners. – Dr. Martina Neunecker, Director Communications & Strategy
Soundings® supports diversity of thought by sourcing a rich assortment of talent to our network of 1800+ event professionals. We believe that cognitive diversity in the workplace stimulates innovation and drives potential. By attracting entrepreneurial minds with varying backgrounds, expertise, lifestyles and experiences, we maintain a diversified talent network and foster unique and inclusive perspectives. In addition, providing clients with agile talent solutions helps reduce the business travel carbon footprint by hiring freelancers in destination.

Looking forward to 2023 and beyond, I expect North America to have a quick shift to and greater focus on sustainability initiatives, more sustainability-focused startups, and DEI and sustainability merge into one larger initiative.

Evaluate your DEI & Sustainability efforts

Questions

As you ponder your own company's DEI and sustainability efforts, here are a few questions to consider:

How are you going to report on sustainability?
Do you know your carbon footprint?
What steps are you taking to create inclusive events for your attendees?
How can events support equity in the workplace?
What new products or services could accelerate the industry forward in the Race to Net Zero?

Resources

I've curated a breadth of resources to help you get informed about DEI and sustainability and proactively plan for the future of events. Included are reports, guides, upcoming events, initiatives and articles from industry leaders and companies driving these initiatives.

Access the resources list here.

DEI & Sustainability Go Hand in Hand